Tuesday’s Three to Watch at the Dayak Tennis Championship in Abuja

First round action continues today, Tuesday at the Dayak Tennis Championship in Abuja and there are plenty of interesting match-ups to look forward to. These three however, promises to be crackers!

Emmanuel Audu vs Thomas Setodji

Emmanuel Audu is into the main draws of an ITF Futures event for only the second time in his fledgling career. The 20-year-old, unlike the first leg – Tombim Abuja Open, where he had to go through qualifying rounds has now benefitted from a wild card and will have Thomas Setodji of France to contend with.

Setodji has played in only two tournaments this year and made it past the first round once. Audu will definitely fancy his chances of going through at the Frenchman’s expense. Should that happen, we could see the Nigerian square off against countryman, Christian Paul in the second round, provided Paul gets past Sweden’s Markus Eriksson.

Christian Paul vs Markus Eriksson

Christian Paul will face Tombim Abuja Open finalist and second seed, Markus Eriksson in the first round in what seemingly is a tough test for the Nigerian. Eriksson, though, has failed to move past the first round in four of the seven tournaments he’s played in this year.

Paul, on the other hand, knows how to produce results. In the qualifiers he comfortably beat Franco Feitt of Argentina. He only has to replicate that performance and maybe more and we’ll have a stunning upset here in Abuja.

Karim-Mohamed Maamoun vs Joao Menezes

Joao Menezes is in top form at the moment. After his exploits at the Tombim Open where he clinched the title, the Brazilian will surely be seeking to dominate the second leg of the Futures same way he did with the first.

However, Egypt’s Karim Maamoun isn’t a player that can be trampled upon. The 27-year-old has made some big splashes on Tour this year. He’s played in nine tournaments this year, including the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open and Dubai Tennis Championship, two Challenger events and other ITF Futures events. He had a sensational run to the final at an ITF Futures event in Egypt in March as well as a run to the quarterfinals in Portugal before coming into Abuja. The last time the Egyptian lost in the first round of an ITF Futures event was in Lagos at the Governor’s Cup in October.

Will Menezes subdue the Egyptian and keep up his ruthless run? Or will the first leg champion crash out in the opening round here?